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The adventures of Robinson Crusoe [by D. Defoe. An abridgment of pt
The adventures of Robinson Crusoe by D Defoe An abridgment of pt Author:Daniel Defoe Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAP. III. ROBINSON CRUSOE SWIMS TO THE SHIP. Having relieved his heart by this effusion of gratitude, Robinson Crusoe rose to look around him. He wand... more »ered along the seashore reflecting on the fate of his unfortunate comrades who had all perished beneath the waves. He cast his eyes towards the spot where the vessel had been wrecked; but the sea was so furious, and the sandbank at so great a distance from the snore, that it was impossible to distinguish anything. However, as he entertained no hope of deriving assistance from the ship, he began to take a view of the coast, and found to his sorrow that it was a wild and barren country, which had apparently never before been trodden by any human foot; all seemed to announce a desert land. The joy he had at first experienced was now entirely at an end; and he beheld all the horrors ofhis situation. He had no dry clothes to substitute for his wet ones, no food to satisfy his hunger, nor a drop of water to allay the thirst with which he was overcome :. he was even without arms to defend himself or to procure food; and he could therefore expect only to die of starvation or to become the prey of some ferocious beast. A knife, a pipe, and a little tobacco in a box, were his only riches. Meanwhile daylight began gradually to disappear. This augmented the despair of poor Robinson Crusoe, when he reflected that it is chiefly in the darkness of night that wild beasts roam in quest of prey- He looked round him in vain for some place of concealment; he beheld none except an old fir tree, the thick branches of which seemed to promise. him a refuge. But as he was dying of thirst, he resolved first of all to look out for some water, and he soon had the good fortune to meet With an excellent spring. Having drank heartily of the wat...« less